Beyonce tickets, pricey artwork: All the free stuff Supreme Court justices got last year

The US Supreme Court is one of the last black boxes in American politics. No anonymous sources talking to the press. No secret videos recorded on the inside. What happens in the chambers when the nine justices meet to decide their cases remains strictly confidential.

However, annual disclosures from the high court judges do give us one peak into the world of SCOTUS: they get a ton of free stuff and plenty of big checks for their work off the bench. Far from a dull government disclosure form, these records are the latest bit of fodder for observers of a court that’s suffered a string of ethics controversies in recent years.

Released Friday, the disclosures capture the high-flying life of America’s top jurists.

Justice Clarence Thomas, for instance, amended his past disclosures to capture gifts from conservative billionaire Harlan Crow, who paid in 2019 for the justice to visit the Indonesian island of Bali and the Bohemian Grove, an elite men’s club in California.

He also disclosed free private jet travel he got in 2022, citing the court’s recently adopted ethics policy, a first-of-its-kind set of requirements for the high court adopted in November.

The justice has said he began flying private after the court suffered an unprecedented May 2022 leak of a draft ruling of the decision in which the court ultimately overturned the constitutional right to an abortion in Roe v Wade.

The disclosures contain other eye-popping figures.

Justice Kentanji Brown Jackson reported receiving four concert tickets from Beyoncé, valued at $3,700, and $10,000 in artwork for her chambers from artist Lonnie Holley.

“Justice Jackson is Crazy in Love with Beyoncé’s music. Who isn’t?” court spokeswoman Patricia McCabe told The Washington Post o